The United States is concerned by reports that Egypt's April 8 local council elections were characterized by widespread electoral violations. We have been troubled by the reports of harassment, detainment, and arrests of opposition candidates and campaign workers in the lead up to the elections, as well as the allegations that large numbers of opposition candidates were prevented from registering.

We believe that the Egyptian people deserve the opportunity to peacefully express their views by means of the ballot box. They should not only be able to vote without fear of intimidation, but should also be able to choose freely from a variety of candidates. We continue to urge the Egyptian Government to take tangible steps towards greater democracy, freedom, and political openness

Is that a quote from something or did you write that?

Please provide a link.

its a quote from the USA embassy in Cairo site
i know maybe they used big words LOL it takes me kinda long time to understand it LOL

Where do I start? The United States is concerned sounds like a diplomatic line. A more honest line would be, "We're concerned your democracy is nonexistent, your corruption is elaborately institutionalized, and your public policy consistently ignores the well-being of the majority of the population."

The constitutional formalities such as free elections, separation of powers, and human rights are all a facade and only made to look like a democracy. All power is in the hands of the Dictator-President and he is the only decision maker who controls the various branches through military force. Elections are rigged and participation is mandatory even though the opposition know they have no chance. Peasants and urban labors have little to no input in the political system.

U.S. criticises Egypt over election restrictions
Thu 10 Apr 2008, 8:29 GMT

WASHINGTON/CAIRO, April 10 (Reuters) - The United States criticised Egyptian authorities for disqualifying opposition candidates from this week's local elections and said it was pressing Cairo to open up the political system.

The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) swept the board in Tuesday's council elections, winning up to 100 percent of the seats in some areas.

But turnout was very low. The main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, withdrew from the elections because the authorities excluded all but 20 of more than 7,000 Brotherhood members who wanted to stand.

"We have been troubled by the reports of harassment, detainment and arrests of opposition candidates and campaign workers in the lead-up to the elections, as well as the allegations that large numbers of opposition candidates were prevented from registering," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

"We believe that the Egyptian people deserve the opportunity to peacefully express their views by means of the ballot box.

"They should not only be able to vote without fear of intimidation, but should also be able to choose freely from a variety of candidates.

"We continue to urge the Egyptian government to take tangible steps towards greater democracy, freedom, and political openness," Perino said in a statement.

A non-governmental organisation which monitored the voting said no more than 1 percent of registered voters took part in the elections, in which the NDP won about 88 percent of the seats by default because there was no opposition.

Any turnout figure above 1 percent would have come about through the practice of stuffing ballot boxes with unused ballots, either by NDP agents or by the civil servants meant to be supervising, said Democracy Status Watch.

Authorities have given higher turnout rates, including 10 and 30 percent, for particular areas.

Visitors to polling stations found transparent ballot boxes with just a handful of ballot papers at the bottom.

A complete tally of seats won by the ruling party was not available but state newspapers gave details for some provinces.

In the Nile Delta province of Menoufia, the NDP took all 5,000 seats on all 172 councils, the state newspaper al-Ahram reported.

In the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the NDP won 90 percent of the seats. The remaining 10 percent was shared between the liberal Wafd Party, the leftist Tagammu Party and two other parties, the newspaper said. (Writing by Jonathan Wright; Editing by Robert Woodward)

link

Egypt says US criticism of its local elections reflects ignorance
© AP
2008-04-11 15:15:40

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Egypt says US criticism of its local elections this week reflected ignorance about the country's political situation.
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said Wednesday the United States was troubled by reports of «widespread electoral violations.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki responded by saying the U.S. did not completely understand Egyptian politics.

Egyptians largely avoided Tuesday's local elections after candidates from the largest opposition group were prevented from running. The full results have not been announced yet but initial reports indicate the ruling party won more than 90 percent of the seats.

Source

I love it when u talk politics!!! u hit it right on the spot!!!!!!!

the only thing i really feel for in my country are the poor ppl!!! we're busy building malls and tourist attraction places to suck more money..... TO DISTRIBUTE IT AMONGST THEMSELVES and leave the country nothing!! they will be asked about this on judgement day and they will be held accountable for every human being they did not fullfil their duties for ....... imagine we're over 7O million looool Yup God is fair!

I have to get back to you on this part of the malls and tourist attraction because I can give a better reply about one arguement in on how economics and global interdependence has shown that it reduces conflict and supports perpetual peace. But let me find that material first before I go into depth so I say everthing right.

The American government doesn't care about people, only money, if they think that might interfer with making money, and lots of it, than they care. Just like people think the drug laws are here to protect us, no they are not, the government doesn't give a #### about you, they just want you hooked on their stuff, it is really all about money.

And that's the argument for Capitalist. There are so many to chose where do I start?

"We're concerned your democracy is nonexistent, your corruption is elaborately institutionalized, and your public policy consistently ignores the well-being of the majority of the population."

that would be a more honest line from who? are you implying that this is a concern by the united states? when the main opposition group is the muslim brotherhood, the last thing the united states government wants is there to be actual democratic process happening there, because they are who will be elected.

i thought the same thing!! thing is America wd be mad at Egypt they didnt control them and keep them away as they can from any power!

Sigh. It's not about the MB as much as it is about the Democratic Process and allowing "whoever" to participate. The US doesn't get to pick who they want in Egypt's democratic process the Egyptians do. If the Egyptians want the MB then that is their right. It is also the US's right to say to Egypt we are concerned about a fair democratic process. It doesn't mean anything will be done about it but it's everyone's right.

If the US wants to do something, than the US government can threaten to take away foreign aid. Here is a quote on the figures of US aid that Egypt recieves:

"Aid is central to Washington's relationship with Cairo. The US has provided Egypt with $1.3 billion a year in military aid since 1979, and an average of $815 million a year in economic assistance. All told, Egypt has received over $50 billion in US largesse since 1975."

Here is the source:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0412/p07s01-wome.html

This is just an article, but you can find the same thing on an official government website. I am just too lazy to look. Egypt actually recieves the second largest amount of US aid, only Israel recieves more (I don't count Iraq because that is an entirely different matter).

Maybe you are not aware what happened with the fair and democratic election that was held next door to Egypt. American president George W. Bush invited all political parties to take part in the Palestinian elections, and insisted these elections be held on time, without delay. International observers were on hand to certify that people could cast their votes freely and without intimidation.

However, when the votes were counted, the results were not what the U.S. and Israel had in mind. Astonishingly, the people hadn't voted for the candidates the U.S. and Israel thought they should vote for.

So the United States simply denounced the winners. as the Israeli military kidnapped and imprisoned more than 60 members of the newly elected legislature in the West Bank. Then the U.S. covertly armed and encouraged the losers to attempt a coup against the democratically elected government in their remaining stronghold in Gaza, but this attempted coup failed miserably. The U.S. then pressured its selected candidates (the losers) to declare the elected government dissolved, and to replace it with unelected officials approved by the U.S. and Israel.

The U.S. and Israel have since made the oxymoronic claim that the elected government tried to stage a coup against the losers of the election. This claim has been repeated as "fact" in American media.

So don't be so naive about the so-called "Democratic process" the U.S. is pushing in other countries, or what lengths the U.S. will go to in order to control that process, or what "rights" Egyptians actually have.

As S and S mentions, the U.S. has a great amount of leverage on Egyptian politics via its immense amount of foreign aid (which is actually closer to $2 billion a year) and which is tied *specifically* to Egypt's playing along with U.S./Israeli demands. It is no mere "coincidence" that U.S. foreign aid to Egypt ballooned in *1979.*

Exactaly! What is the US saying to the world about Democracy when the Palestinians hold an election and the elected officials are denounced? There is so much more to this though. I've been posting about this in another thread as well.

Oddly enough, Israel got their big increase in US AID right after the 1967 war. Odd since the United States lost a ship in that war, the USS Liberty, and it wasn't the Egyptians that were shooting at it. There are some politics I will never understand.

Yeah cool eh?

So much conspiracy stuff.

Drug companies are killing you with their medicines that "keep you alive". Sure! It's all about money, but they're killing you so you don't buy their stuff anymore.

The US Government hands out drugs so people can kill themselves & get hooked - and be unproductive in-turn.

Makes sense, right? Then you can hand out foodstamps & subsidized housing to junkies - pay for their prison & rehab.

That's real profitable, paying for treatment, right? Must work wonders for the economy - having unproductive people.

My answer to Fed bashers - is go hang out overseas for a few years. Preferably in a third world dictatorship, or oppressive kingdom.

Then you'll come running back to this "hellhole" we call the United States. Where you can stand up in a crowd and call the president a jack-assed monkey-faced idiot - and rest assured that you and your family will be eating dinner later that day - all limbs intact. Where you can say the Government's out to get you - and nobody gives a rat's ###. And, you can say some pharmaceutical corporation is trying to poison you to death so you don't buy their products anymore and their profits suffer.

Sure, it may suck here - but I tell you this: You don't know suck if you think it sucks here.

[ edit - bleh - some discussions I would rather not get involved in. Self-removed. ]

I totally agree with what you said KyanWan. Personally I can't stand all these conspiracy theories that aren't backed by hard evidence. I also think we really do have it good here compared to many places. It is nice that we can complain until our heart is content without fear. It is nice to know you can have the chance at a good life here if your willing to work for it. So many other people in other places cannot claim that.

You changed your response on me, anyway, I will leave it at this. Check out this book "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy". It looks like a big book, but it really has a lot of great information in it.

then why did you say this earlier? it's a complete contradiction of the above.

"Where do I start? The United States is concerned sounds like a diplomatic line. A more honest line would be, "We're concerned your democracy is nonexistent, your corruption is elaborately institutionalized, and your public policy consistently ignores the well-being of the majority of the population." "